Digital Design Sketching using the Tablet PC

Abstract

As digital sketching continues to emerge as an alternative to paper-based techniques, a qualitative, triangulated longitudinal study of nine-months duration was undertaken to explore the capabilities of the tablet Personal Computer (PC) to support portable sketching during industrial/product design activity. The methodology involved the unrestricted use of tablet PCs by 16 final year undergraduate industrial/product design students for an entire academic year, with data collection through a sketching exercise (participant and expert questionnaires), design exercise (questionnaire), focus group (coding and clustering) and final questionnaire. The conclusions indicate that the tablet PC represents a significant development in the support of sketching capability by increasing confidence which can have a positive impact on the generation of design ideas.

Keywords:

• digital sketching
• industrial design
• product design
• tablet personal computer (PC)
• drawing

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Mark Evans

Dr Mark Evans is a reader in industrial design and leader of loughborough university’s design practice research group. Prior to joining loughborough he was a corporate and consultant designer, with clients that include british airways, bosch, honda and boots. A phd supervisor and examiner for 24 candidates with over 100 publications, research activity focuses on supporting design practice through the development of tools/resources and understanding the impact of emerging digital technologies on creative practice. Overseas appointments include international scholar at massachusetts institute of technology (mit) and visiting professor at rhode island school of design (risd). Research funding has been received from organisations that include the department of trade and industry, industrial designers society of america (idsa), research councils uk (ahrc/epsrc), hewlett packard usa and the royal academy of engineering. Recent research outputs have been the id cards print production/app-based design tool and design practice research case studies web site to support the use of visually creative design practice within the PhD

Noor Aldoy

Dr Noor Aldoy is the Design and Innovation Manager at Lancaster China Catalyst Programme, University of Lancaster. Her role involves embedding design driven innovation to support technology-focused uk smes to develop robust R&D partnerships with chinese organizations. Dr Aldoy first joined the University of Lancaster as a Senior Knowledge Exchange Associate in the London Creative and Digital Fusion Project. The project aimed to help London-based creative and digital SMEs to innovate, collaborate and grow. This role involved applying expertise in design, innovation and knowledge exchange to conduct and facilitate workshops to engage creative and digital businesses. Prior to joining the University of Lancaster, Dr Aldoy was a member of the Design Practice Research group at Loughborough University where work focused on methods of digital industrial design and curriculum development for undergraduate study, with outcomes being presented at several global conferences and published in design journals.